Choosing an archiving approach for historical records
Key Takeaway
Choose the archiving tool by what you need to keep: the Archive app for whole records, a custom big object for massive volume on the Salesforce platform, Field Audit Trail for field change history, and Heroku Connect, Heroku Postgres and Salesforce Connect for archived data kept outside Salesforce.
Archiving moves historical, rarely used records out of the live Salesforce org into low-cost storage for long-term retention. The records stay accessible, so you can still use them for compliance, audits or reference. Archiving matters because large data volumes slow reports and searches and raise storage costs, while deleting the data is often not an option. Choosing an approach means matching your need to the right tool.
Signs that an org needs archiving
An org may need archiving when you see signs like these:
- Poor performance, slow reporting or record locking caused by data volume
- Data retention policies that the org doesn't meet
- Storage used by records that nobody actively works with
Storage usage is a warning sign as well. When usage goes above 80%, performance degrades, and reporting, searches and indexing slow down. At 100%, Salesforce blocks record creation with System Full errors. Archiving before the org reaches 100% prevents these errors.